Fells Point has a lot of developmental firsts when it comes to Baltimore. It was among the first three settlements of the original
Baltimoretown, Some of Baltimore's first industrial ventures have roots in
Fells Point, some of Baltimore's first homes are in
Fells Point,
Fells Point was the first neighborhood to successfully stop a freeway from killing, and along with
Otterbein and Federal Hill it was the first to see a rebirth through getting people back in its old row houses. It should have then been the first neighborhood to be built out through redevelopment of its old industrial waterfront then too right? Wrong! Bond St. Wharf remains vacant How did this happen? I will try to answer this and provide what the future looks like when
Fells Point does become built out.
Fells Point grew rapidly as Baltimore's best shipping enclave. It featured the winning combination of the Bond St. Wharf, Henderson's Wharf, and the Broadway Pier. In the early days this served as 1st Class Docks for importing and exporting goods and services not just in and out of Baltimore, but the whole Country. Manufacturers began opening up factories that produced clothing and textiles throughout
Fells Point to be near the Docks for easy shipping.
Fells Point itself was home to a diverse ethnic Population with immigrants from Poland, Lithuania, The Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Ireland, Germany, and Italy filling the streets. As technology became more sophisticated,
Fells Point was still an industrial magnet as Allied Signal Chemical bought up the entire Bond St. Wharf for its Warehouses and Shipping Docks.
Like the plight of all Industrial Cities,
Fells Point suffered a major setback after World War II when the nature of industry and manufacturing fell victim to technology. Why a victim to technology you say? Well, it's responsible for the collapse of the American Workforce as we once knew it, factories that once employed thousands began massive layoffs which continue to this day. As unemployment in
Fells Point grew, its population shrank as families sought employment elsewhere. Industrial
Fells Point may have fallen but residential
Fells Point retained its quaint old world charm despite a population loss.
1980 began a new day for
Fells Point and the Baltimore Waterfront as a whole. The opening of Harbor Place marked the birth of the Inner Harbor as a World Class Tourist Attraction. Nearby neighborhoods like
Fells Point sought to regain population due to its proximity to the Harbor. City Dwellers new and old were attracted to the quaint old world charm in
Fells Point and the old row homes began filling up with a population that was wealthier than its working class predecessors.
Fells Point however, was in grave danger of falling victim to the interstate revolt, Canton too for that matter. I-83, was not supposed to stop at Fayette St., it was supposed to continue through
Fells Point along
Aliceanna Street's alignment and then through Canton along Boston Street's current alignment (sounds like the Red Line 4C) meeting I-95 by going across the Harbor. This would have had a devastating effect. Enter Senator Barb (she wasn't a Senator at the time) who was the driving force behind the Freeway and launched her Political Career into high speed earning her her title "Senator Barb." I-83's southern terminus remains at Fayette St. and will not extend further south.
Now comes the redevelopment of old industrial Baltimore. Can you say Mixed Use Residential/Retail/Office/Hotel and everything in between? First came the
Harborview High Rise along Key Highway which was supposed to be nothing but high rises but the plans were changed to add a mix of residences. Then came Inner Harbor East located south of Little Italy. Then Came Canton Crossing and Henderson's Wharf in
Fells Point. Now anything near Water is gold it goes as far as Brewers Hill and Locust Point. It doesn't have to be the Inner Harbor anymore. The Middle Branch will see new life as
Westport, Cherry Hill, and "Gateway South" along Russell St. redevelop their Waterfronts. Port
Covington is also being eyed. So does that mean the Inner Harbor is completely built out? Not quite, a pivotal part of the Inner Harbor Waterfront in
Fells Point has seemingly been forgotten; the Bond St. Wharf, the former Allied Signal Chemical Site. How did we miss it?
The truth is, we didn't miss it and never did. Allied Signal closed their plant in 1985, 5 years after the opening of Harbor Place leaving it as a long time hold out in the once proud industrial Baltimore. In 1989 4 years after the plant's closure the site, was deemed contaminated and not fit for development. Allied Signal reached a deal with the State of Maryland to conduct a 20 year $61 Million site cleanup and remediation to clean up the site and the water that borders it. So, if the clean up started in 1989 that would mean the completion of the clean up of it did indeed take 20 years wasn't completed until 2009. Now, the State of Maryland wouldn't have bothered having Allied Signal undertake such a massive effort if they didn't think Bond St. Wharf wasn't a great redevelopment site. So we've come to the conclusion that the Bond St. Wharf was a worthy contender for redevelopment since 1989 at the latest.
Since then, redevelopment efforts in less contaminated sites along the Harbor took place, are currently taking place, or will be taking place. These stories dominated the head lines of our local and sometimes national newspapers but the Bond St. Wharf Cleanup did not. This led to the conclusion that the site was not a contender for redevelopment, guess what! It was and is. So now that we've established that the Bond St. Wharf is ready for redevelopment in 2010 and beyond the question one might ask his or herself is who's going to build it and what are they going to build?
Look no further than Inner Harbor East for the Developers. H&S Bakery and
Streuver Brothers
Eccles and Rouse have teamed up once again to bring you "Harbor Point.", the renamed Bond St. Wharf. This is not to be confused with Harbour Point, a town home development currently under construction in Locust Point. Now what does this Dynamic Duo of local Developers have in store for Harbor Point? Well, it will be a seamless transition from Inner Harbor East. It's set to include Retail,
Reidences, Offices, a Hotel, and Cultural Space and Open Space. It's not clear what the Cultural Space is planned to be, whether it's a Museum or a Concert Hall but the Developers are comparing with the Opera House in Sydney, Australia. Of the 27 acre site 11 acres will be preserved for Open Space and an expansion of the Inner Harbor Promenade.
Now for the question that the title of this post asks; Bond St. Wharf How Did We Miss This One? We didn't it just looks like we did.
When it comes to the Rebirth of the Inner Harbor what two words automatically come to mind? Harbor Place right? Me too, when you think of the one thing that's draining vitality from the Inner Harbor 30 years later what two words come to mind? Harbor Place? Me too. What two words do you utter in disgust when you can't see the water from Office, Apartment, or Hotel Room when promised a view of the water? Well you get the idea. The question now becomes, how did the once World Class Shopping Venue that brought the Harbor back from a dead industrial port into the model for Tourist Related Waterfronts looking to redevelop become so problematic? The answer lies ahead.
Harbor Place set the bench in 1980 for a massive Inner Harbor Rebirth. Paired with the Harbor Promenade the tourist attractions began multiplying with the Science Center, the National Aquarium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium, countless Hotels, the Convention Center, 1st Mariner Arena to name a few. Some of these attractions were built before Harbor Place but they gained more attention as the Harbor's pull put them on the map. The Activity at the Harbor was a huge success and Restaurant Owners in nearby Little Italy who were initially afraid they'd lose business were ecstatic when their business boomed post Harbor Place. With the Inner Harbor in the 1980s there was still the "Don't Make the Wrong Turn" worries but it didn't seem to deter Tourists.
On the Residential side Mayor William Donald Shaffer's Dollar Row House program in neighborhoods like Otterbein, Fells Point, Ridgley's Delight and Federal Hill made their popularity and home values soar. Since most of the Harbor was still an Industrial Wasteland the demand to redevelop was greater than ever. Inner Harbor East, Canton Crossing, The Crescent at Fells Point, Tide Point, Harbor Point, Harborview, Silo Point all have redrawn the landscape of the Harbor. So everything appears to be Hunk Dorry right?
Well, just like anything and everything in the urban planning field, there's a shelf life for developments or trends if you will. What worked astronomically well 30 years ago doesn't necessarily work today. Usually the catalyst ages the worst, it's surrounded by newer developments with constantly changing innovations in urban planning that weren't there 30 years ago. Also Downtown just kept expanding, all of those developments I mentioned and then some have wooed businesses both independent and national chains into their new development.
Inner Harbor East is much denser than Harbor Place, the traffic design is such that crossing major City Streets is not a life or death maneuver. The same can be said about developments along Key Highway. To get from the Harbor Place Promenade to pretty much anywhere else in the City ie the Hotels, you have to either cross Pratt St., President St., or Light St. if not all of them.
Although very safe there have been a few instances of Crime occurring in the more resent summers that have had an impact on businesses in Harbor Place with Outdoor Seating. A greater Police presence can either make you feel safer or it can make you feel like you're in an area that's a known hot spot for crime. The Inner Harbor is not a crime hot spot when it comes to Baltimore Standards but for tourists who don't know about the rest of Baltimore and think that these few incidents are the norm and that the Harbor isn't safe.
All of these elements can hurt business in a Retail Complex such as Harbor Place, and it has. Every time I walk through it from the Sky Walk to the Promenade I see more and more shuttered businesses that moved to other locations. The fact that Harbor Place is often used as means to get across Town without crossing streets makes it appear more crowded but the people aren't always shopping or eating there. As more and more new developments feature Sky Scrapers; the views of the Harbor become obstructed and the Harbor itself is why Baltimore is what it is.
So how do we fix this? The City has requested for proposals to redevelop Pratt St. which has become absurdly wide and congested and has lost its role as the City's Show Case Street. Plans for redevelopment on Pratt St. have included widening the road for two way traffic, adding more Retail, narrowing the road, adding the Red Line, and subtracting Retail. Obviously these plans differ greatly in their goals but Pratt St needs to be redeveloped in order to save or not save Harbor Place. I favor narrowing Pratt St. and putting the Red Line at Surface Level to Show Case a burgoening Rail Transit System for the Baltimore Region.
I choose not saving Harbor Place, it obstructs the view of the Harbor while traveling on both Pratt St. and Light St. and its storefronts face the back of the road or the front of the Promenade. Harbor Place is simply in the way. It has enough vacancies to warrant redevelopment and something will have to be done as part of the Master Plan for Pratt St. There are enough open spaces for Retail in other parts of Downtown, mainly the Westside for existing Retailers in Harbor Place.
Now what should in its place? Nothing. Sometimes less is more and with less buildings in the way the more opportunity there is to just sit back and enjoy the view of the Harbor. So get out of the Harbor Place.
